Opinions on the Dunkerque? Here are mine so far.

[Jakajan]

Basically I see the Dunkerque as a battlecruiser at tier 6. She reminds me of what the Kongo would be, if she had 8 guns pointing directly forward and a different secondary configuration. She is the fastest of her tier, armor is a little weak but passable. Her guns do not often do a lot of damage, unless they score a citadel in which case they can wipe out a cruiser in 3 to 4 of these. 

 

Dunkerque is capable of 29.5 knots and turns a lot like a tier 8 Mogami, I have actually had to double check a few times to make sure I was not captaining Mogami while using her. Overall i've been very impressed by the speed and handling of this ship. Once I even managed to ambush two carriers who were not expecting a battleship to move in this fast.

 

Her biggest strength is the fact that she has all eight of her guns focused directly forward, you might think this would lead to a lot of bow on fighting, and it can, but she can also run away and fire "over her shoulder" to great affect, still firing most of her guns. I noticed that one of her turrets can get a firing angle while more angled, then with a 7 degree correction the second gun can fire. Still because of this arc, her high agility and high turret traverse rate she can waggle like a cruiser.

 

In a straight up fight, with no maneuvering or speed she would lose to a Fuso I think, but with smart angling and a little agility she can dance around Fuso and beat one more often than not.

 

Dunkerque's secondaries do not look too impressive, but they work and honestly set a lot of fires. I think I will try training up to get advanced fire training to see if I can't make them work better.

 

I'm actually really bad with battleships though, so take it with a grain of salt. Really the only bb I am decent at in my opinion is the IJN Amagi, and the ARP Kongo, still I like this boat, it feels like the kind of battlecruiser I like, so if you like the Amagi and Kongo you will likely enjoy the Dunkerque.

 

One thing I learned with her, is going bow on against a battleship or even a cruiser use HE, when the ships turn broadside use AP shells, this helped me do a bit more damage.  But I still use AP in all circumstances under 7km range because angles can change swiftly there!. Speaking of damage I have had about 5 games now where I scored over 90k. My win rate in this ship isn't the best, but my win rate in every battleship is pretty abysmal. Heck I am not even at 40% in the Scharnhorst.

 

Overall though, I want to say that Dunkerque is not overpowered. I would say she fits well into a tier 6 bracket and fills a roll that no other battleship does. She is a fun ship though and I would recommend people give her a try.

 

 

[poeticmotion]

Her biggest strength is the fact that she has all eight of her guns focused directly forward, you might think this would lead to a lot of bow on fighting, and it can, but she can also run away and fire "over her shoulder" to great affect, still firing most of her guns. I noticed that one of her turrets can get a firing angle while more angled, then with a 7 degree correction the second gun can fire. Still because of this arc, her high agility and high turret traverse rate she can waggle like a cruiser.

 

Despite me getting on your case (I was wrong, just frustrated with the rest of the team letting a sure win go south and I apologize for being a jerk) you did a nice job with your Dunk kiting half the enemy team across the map on Neighbors yesterday. Those turrets can turn really far to the rear for over-the-shoulder shots; i wouldn't have expected thow well that worked until I saw it. 

[Jakajan]

 

Despite me getting on your case (I was wrong, just frustrated with the rest of the team letting a sure win go south and I apologize for being a jerk) you did a nice job with your Dunk kiting half the enemy team across the map on Neighbors yesterday. Those turrets can turn really far to the rear for over-the-shoulder shots; i wouldn't have expected thow well that worked until I saw it. 

 

Thank you, I actually captured a screen shot of that, but to be honest I didn't do enough damage in that game. I was still learning her and did rotate my guns the wrong way twice, otherwise I think I could have fired two or three more vollies.

 

My ship did survive to use her very last repair, only did 40k damage that game but I felt like surviving and kiting 6 ships for as long as she did made her important.

[Unabletony]

Another person that is in love with Dunkerque~

 

 

WG is happy

[TurboT]

The ship is weird. Period.

 

I want to like it, I just wish I'd get less 920 damages out of 8 guns... Happens too much for me.

 

[Jakajan]

 

Also in my top game, check out what I did to some of the battleships.

 

[Jakajan]

The ship is weird. Period.

 

I want to like it, I just wish I'd get less 920 damages out of 8 guns... Happens too much for me.

 

 

Actually Turbo this is the way I feel about the Scharnhorst and I wish I knew what to do, but I suck so badly in that ship. Should I just give up on her or keep trying? I need to do something different with her, it is depressing me to play her.

[Czevak]

I actually really want the Dunkin Donut, but I don't have enough money to spare. Maybe next year I suppose.

[Jakajan]

I actually really want the Dunkin Donut, but I don't have enough money to spare. Maybe next year I suppose.

 

The Dunkin Donut? Hazenut coffee is the best, perfect to go with my Krispy Kreme.

[IanEl]

The Dunkerque has its pros and cons - more of the latter - but she is a beauté. I seem to have gotten her quirks working for me because I played most of my games at an average damage range of about 60k. I have to admit though, the ship looks strange without a rear main battery.

 

[TurboT]

 

Actually Turbo this is the way I feel about the Scharnhorst and I wish I knew what to do, but I suck so badly in that ship. Should I just give up on her or keep trying? I need to do something different with her, it is depressing me to play her.

 

The Scharn is a fickle beast at times too.  I use my Tirpitz Captain in it and that helps with the full secondary build and such.   The only games I've sucked in it were when I was facing tier 9s or there were CVs picking on me.

 

The best advice I could give anyone about the Scharn is to know that it's wheelhouse is in the 7.5-5km range.  Its not a comfortable spot for many, and you need to pick your spots for that engagement.  The spot being when there are no DDs around to torp you.  If you can close to within 7 km of BBs, and get your secondaries and angles right, it's bad [edited].  I recommend watching atsf's video on it, as he really points out humorously the angle it needs to be at to engage other BBs. Plus at that range your AP damages things.

[KingJacko]

I am so used to normal turret setups honestly I'd rather just have an IS-7 parked on my bow

[Roadrider7021]

      My experience has been not to get too hung up on bow fighting and use it only as one tool in the toolbox. If you get the chance, check out Earl Gray's piece on the Dunkerque and if you can put up with his bouts of French you'll see his points are quite good and his game play is more Molotov than BB. If you anchor the ship in a bow in forward/reverse profile you'll be losing out on her other strengths, those being speed, agility, and turret traverse. She can really fight over the shoulder; wait 'til you're chased by multiple opponents, running for your life, twisting with the 11 something rudder shift and firing 13" lightning bolts over your flank, mashing the rudder back to the other side, steering back and forth through a 0 angle. This ship can brawl too with that fast turret traverse and the ability to close like a spear.

[tremor3258]

I got it after seeing some of the analysis (not a great battleship, but a really good large cruiser with limited AA) - played one game so far, but treating it as a large cruiser (not necessarily a battlecruiser with equivalent guns) with good bow armor has seen some good results so far.

[wadavid]

      My experience has been not to get too hung up on bow fighting and use it only as one tool in the toolbox. If you get the chance, check out Earl Gray's piece on the Dunkerque and if you can put up with his bouts of French you'll see his points are quite good and his game play is more Molotov than BB. If you anchor the ship in a bow in forward/reverse profile you'll be losing out on her other strengths, those being speed, agility, and turret traverse. She can really fight over the shoulder; wait 'til you're chased by multiple opponents, running for your life, twisting with the 11 something rudder shift and firing 13" lightning bolts over your flank, mashing the rudder back to the other side, steering back and forth through a 0 angle. This ship can brawl too with that fast turret traverse and the ability to close like a spear.

 

^ Absolutely this. Everyone sees the turret configuration and assumes this is going to be a one-trick pony that sits still bow-in and prays that no planes show up. That is ridiculous. I've actually been doing a lot of close-range fighting in this ship, with good results. It's not like traditional brawling, though; you use your speed to get good shots, turn between enemy reloads, and let your (underrated, very good) secondaries do work on the way out. Drive-by shooting might be a better way to describe this style, but whatever you want to call it, it works. And it's specific to the Dunkerque; few battleships have the ship speed, turret speed or over-the-shoulder firing arc to make use of this sort of maneuver in a close-range engagement.

 

And let's talk about the secondaries. I've gotten more secondary hits and "Close Quarters Expert" medals in this ship than in any other battleship I've played. (Note: not checked, merely anecdotal, but probably close to true.) More than once I've actually slowed down with a destroyer on my tail, just to let him get within secondary range. And when the three Ognevois worth of guns open up, it's funny how quickly they decide to go bother someone else.

 

It's a strange ship with a specific play style and an interesting bag of tricks. To only sit bow-in in this ship is to throw away most of its trump cards - speed, fast-turning turrets, good secondaries, decent rudder - and waste its potential.

[Jakajan]

New best game, I am getting loads of cits with her now, 2 to 4 per game is normal.

 

 

I think my prefered skill set for her is.

 

Basic firing training

Improved marksman

Superintendent

Advanced fire training

?? not sure, maybe high alert and basics of survivability.

 

I usually go for vigilance but this ship can turn very, very fast and can usually negate torpedo hits because of her agility. Her AA is a little weak, but it works, I got 6 fighters last game, usually she can shoot down 1 bomber out of a squad before they hit her, would be nice if she could get two, maybe with aft?

 

This might sound insane, but the more I play her, the more I love her at close range. I am now confident of the specifics of her armor angle and can blow away ships in the 10km or less range. I feel particularly entertained when the secondaries are firing too and starting fires.

 

I blew up an NC, Amagi, and actually a Schornhorst this way at close range, granted I dodged the torps but yeah, I expected them! Am I actually becoming okay at bb now? Nah, no chance.

 

[johnny2combs]

 

I loving this ship atm, despite some of the negative comments on it.  Well suited for its tier and I currently average 78k dmg a game..

 

Best game so far is this one.. and it was a loss.

 

 

 

[Camping4XP]

It takes awhile to get used to its playstyle. But I'm having fun with mine. I'm not really impressed with the armor but as a cruiser main, it's nothing new. Getting citadel'd while facing the enemy bow on is kind of annoying though. Still a fun ship

[Rissien]

I have played three games in her, all three in a Division so none solo. First was a victory, the other two were defeats however those were not the ships fault but with the teams. One of my divisions played 15 games straight in his before he even saw a loss and said he was getting 100k dmg average. My first game, the victory I myself only got 50k but was still a good round. Running perks and modules to keep turret rotation speed up but for the most part keeping her stand off bow on. It does light up on fire pretty easily so do have to keep that in mind as well as can be citadelled from the front by the higher teir BB's. Dispersion is hit or miss, sometimes really tight, othertimes worse than a shotgun but still got for some nice salvos.

     My second game I got 119k dmg spread out between ships and a couple nice citadel hits, third game I got a kraken which honestly I do not get too often even though I'd like to consider myself as at least a competent ships captain. Basically just have to play her to her strengths and know how to use her. Shes like the Atlanta and Yubari in that unless you know how to play her you wont do so well.
 

[Rolkatsuki]

Well I love my Dunkerque too~ but because of its bow fighting tactics you're more often than not will use alot and terricrap AA rating it is extremely vulnerable to attacks from CV aircraft be sure to have a div mate in a cruiser with you, if not stay in a group.

[Jakajan]

Well I love my Dunkerque too~ but because of its bow fighting tactics you're more often than not will use alot and terricrap AA rating it is extremely vulnerable to attacks from CV aircraft be sure to have a div mate in a cruiser with you, if not stay in a group.

 

Very true. I had a super special game in my Dunkerque the other night though where I teamed up with an Atlanta and a Furutaka, we totally wrecked stuff together, was awesome! The atlanta kept me safe from two enemy carriers and i was the bulk of steady damage vs battleships. I would charge the bb bow on and stop about 2km away, while the Atlanta would come up on my tailpipe, turn aside and torp the bb, it was brilliant and worked like twice in one match.

 

Good Atlanta players are awesome arn't they?

[Corsair_I]

 

The Scharn is a fickle beast at times too.  I use my Tirpitz Captain in it and that helps with the full secondary build and such.   The only games I've sucked in it were when I was facing tier 9s or there were CVs picking on me.

 

The best advice I could give anyone about the Scharn is to know that it's wheelhouse is in the 7.5-5km range.  Its not a comfortable spot for many, and you need to pick your spots for that engagement.  The spot being when there are no DDs around to torp you.  If you can close to within 7 km of BBs, and get your secondaries and angles right, it's bad [edited].  I recommend watching atsf's video on it, as he really points out humorously the angle it needs to be at to engage other BBs. Plus at that range your AP damages things.

 

You are not supposed to meet tier 9 unless in a failed division.